Friday, November 05, 2004

Three new papers from Global Britain

Always good to know that there is somebody out there who will read statistical compendia, Pink Books, IMF Balance of Payments of Statistics Yearbooks and others of that ilk, then process all the data into easily manageable papers for people like me to read and, sometimes, understand.

So, three cheers for Global Britainand its Director, Ian Milne, a wizard on statistics and economics.

He has just produced three more papers (and they are just that: one A4 sheet each, with lots of information). One of them tells you that customs duites are hardly worth collecting. It seems that

“[o]f the £396 billion raised in taxes by the UK in 2002/3, under one half of one per cent - £1.9 billion – came from customs duties charged on imports under the EU Common External Tariff. Those customs duties were immediately handed on to Brussels.”

Well, well. Another supposed benefit to be discarded. Read all about it on the Global Britain website.

The other two papers are more analytical, though in very easily digestible gobbets. One explains in words of almost one syllable and four points why free trade with the Single Market would continue if the UK left the EU. The basic point is so simple that supporters of the EU who tell us they are that only for good economic reasons, must accept:

“Mutual commercial self-interest would ensure that trade between the EU and apost-withdrawal UK would be as free, if not more free, than it is at present …”

But there, don’t believe me, read the paper on the website, together with the nine basic facts about the UK in the Global Economy.

The last paper is a little more sombre. It explains why the UK is sliding down in the international league tables (as are most EU countries). All of which proves that even coming out of the EU is not going to be the end of the story. Many more things will have to be done on the political and the economic fronts. (And, please, could we not have any more demands for me to admit openly that I do not think the EU with its heavy taxation, regulation, control freakery and centralization is the right future for Europe. I think I have made my views pretty clear.)